tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 06 11:35:17 2003
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Re: Waiting for Things
On Thu, 6 Feb 2003, David Trimboli wrote:
> From: "...Paul" <[email protected]>
> > Maybe this would be better:
> >
> > jIHvaD juH lungevqang 'e' vIghoj 'e' vIloSlI'
> > "I'm waiting to learn that they are willing to sell me the house."
> >
> > But that sounds to me like the outcome is too definite... Ideas? Or have
> > I got it?
>
> Well, we've heard from Okrand that /SIv/ can be used in this way:
>
> jIHvaD juH lungevqang 'e' vISIv
> I wonder if they're willing to sell the home to me?
> (Remember, /juH/ is "home," not "house.")
Same difference to my east coast ear. ;) 'sides, it's a condo, not a
house anyway. ;)
> We don't know if /ghoj/ can do the same thing. Given the right context, I
> wouldn't be too opposed to it myself. But I think we can do it with /Sov/
> too.
>
> Or, you can split it up a little:
>
> jIHvaD juH lungevqang wej 'e' vISov. De' vIloSlI'.
> I don't yet know if they're willing to sell me the home. I'm waiting for
> the information.
See, there's still a bit of a connotation there I'm not satisfied with.
You're actually saying, "Not yet do I know they are willing to sell me the
home." But to me, I get the impression that they are willing, and I just
don't know yet. The truth of the matter is, that they are willing to sell
me the home is in question... It's subtle, but I think key.
What about:
jIHvaD juH lungevqang 'e' luwuqtaHvIS vIloSlI'
"I'm waiting while they decide they're willing to sell me the home"?
Does that work? No, doh, it has a type-7 suffix on the second verb in a
sentence-as-object construction (but only because stupid -vIS requires
it... :P ) How about...
jIHvaD juH lungevqang 'e' luwuqpa' vIloSlI'
"Before they decide they're willing to sell the home to me, I'm waiting."
I suppose this is also accurate, but a little harder to parse because of
the complicated subclause:
vIloSlI' jIHvaD juH lungevqang 'e' luwuqpa'
"I'm waiting before they decide they're willing to sell the home to me."
...Paul
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